Bill Title: Amends the Minimum Wage Law. Excludes from the definition of "employee" an employee employed as a player who is 28 years old or younger, a manager, a coach, or an athletic trainer by a minor league professional baseball team not affiliated with a major league baseball club, if (A) the minor league professional baseball team does not operate for more than 7 months in any calendar year or (B) during the preceding calendar year, the minor league professional baseball team's average receipts for any 6-month period of the year were not more than 33 1/3% of its average receipts for the other 6 months of the year. Effective immediately.

Today,
I veto Senate Bill 81 from the 100th General Assembly, which raises the
statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next four years.

Helping
low-income families and individuals get out of poverty is a top priority, and I
share the passion of many members of the legislature for improving the
well-being of those struggling to make ends meet. However, mainstream economic
theory and mainstream economic evidence strongly suggest that an increase in
the minimum wage of this magnitude will hurt the very individuals it seeks to
help.

The
most thorough research to date, published earlier this year by researchers at
the University of Washington, found that for every 10 percent increase in the hourly
earnings of low-wage workers, there was a 30 percent reduction in employers
providing those jobs.

This
research implies that Senate Bill 81 will result in a net reduction of earnings
for low-wage Illinoisans in excess of $1,500 per year. This legislation would
cost significant sums of money for the very people it purports to help.
Illinois needs to be seeking comprehensive solutions that grow the economy and
the number of jobs available where individuals can train, grow and attain
better lives for themselves and their families.

Therefore,
pursuant to Section 9(b) of Article IV of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I
hereby return Senate Bill 81, entitled AN ACT concerning employment, with the
foregoing objections, vetoed in its entirety.